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Invasions
Em-8ER is an action game, an open world shooter set where players must colonize and terraform a harsh alien world as their last hope for survival. Standing in their way is an ancient and evil alien race called the Tsi-Hu, who were imprisoned on Em-8ER eons ago. As the players attempt to push open pockets of terraformed zones on the planet, the ancient Tsi-Hu begin to stir from their time-loop prison, as human activity starts to form cracks in time. These cracks become wide enough to allow the Tsi-Hu through in larger and larger numbers, and war rages across the planet as the Tsi-Hu attack and attempt to reclaim the world from the humans. These attacks come in the form of invasions. In some cases, the zone will be under Tsi-Hu control, and the humans must push them back and clear the zone in order to terraform it. In other cases, the Tsi-Hu will be invading human zones and trying to do the same. War as a Simulation The Tsi-Hu are NPCs controlled by the server AI. They wage war not by script, but by AI and simulation like in an RTS. The Tsi-Hu are driven by goals to capture territory and destroy human bases and disrupt human mining activity. They choose targets based on threat and strategic value. The more bases they destroy, the stronger they get as they use them as staging areas for more attacks. When Tsi-Hu destroy a base, they start to build their own structures. These serve as additional spawn points for the Tsi-Hu and, as they build up, gives them the ability to open a time breach large enough to spawn bigger and bigger Kaiju. If the Tsi-Hu manage to take over an entire zone, they will become very entrenched and hard to displace. This is the initial starting state of the game, as players will have to clear out Tsi-Hu from existing zones before they can move in and start terraforming. Bases Bases are the focus of attacks in invasions. Players must build up fortifications and building that let them grow stronger and take over more territory. The Tsi-Hu also build bases, and can do so very rapidly, as they merely have to phase in buildings from their own time. Human bases are built up over days, and need protection as they do so. The more bases and building the Tsi-Hu build, the bigger and better their weapons and the Kaiju they can summon to fight for them. Duration and Frequency Invasions are always occurring as long as there are sufficient players online with only short breaks between. This split player activity between fighting in invasions, or going to zones not under attack to mine for resources to fuel the war effort. A zone under invasion cannot be mined, as all available THMPRs are pressed into battle. The more players are online, the more zones will be simultaneously under attack. This spreads out the player base to help with load. Since the Tsi-Hu become stronger the more bases they take over, players cannot afford to ignore other zones under attack and must split their forces. Invasions occur in waves lasting 45 minutes to over and hour of sustained attack. Players have a chance to regroup and rebuild and push back between waves. Losing Battles Losing bases and entire zones has a direct impact on all players. Losing bases slows down research times, base building times, and terraforming rates. Losing an entire zone will revert it’s terraforming to a prior state as the Tsi-Hu work to bring it back to their own native conditions. Losing too many bases or zones results in a drop in world tier. World tier is the current maximum tier of technology and crafting available to all players. Crafting is arranged in tiers, with higher tiers offering more options and a slight increase in power. At the start of the game, world tier must be advanced by all players working together to take over and fully terraform zones and build bases. As they succeed, the world tier rises and new research and crafting templates are unlocked. If the world tier falls, players will not be able to craft new items in the lost tiers, nor repair items in that tier. In this way, the entire player base is motivated to work together to fight the Tsi-Hu, terraform, and build up bases. source: https://forums.em8er.com/threads/new-section-invasions.851/